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A 3 page research paper that discusses the foundational assumptions of behaviorism and the influence of B.F. Skinner. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
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3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khbfsetc.rtf
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2002). B.F. Skinner once observed that "The application of operant conditioning is simple and direct. Teaching is the arrangement of contingencies or reinforcement under which students learn" (Ivie, Roebuck and
Short, 2001, p. 519). As this suggests, the behaviorist psychological perspective maintains that whether or not a specific desired behavior is repeated is largely dependent on the consequences that follow
the behavior (Russell, 2002). The work of B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) is considered pivotal in the history of behaviorist psychology, as his work focuses on operant rather than classical conditioning (Mergel,
1998). However, Skinner was certainly not the first to note the relationship between environmental stimuli and subsequent human behavior, as Aristotle observed and wrote of this relationship in ancient Greek
literature. In the early twentieth century, Ivan Pavlov performed his famous experiment in classical conditioning and showed that it was possible to condition dogs to salivate at the sound of
a bell (Mergel, 1998). Skinner shifted the focus of behaviorism from classical to operate conditioning which refers to "voluntary behaviors used in operating in the environment," rather than the
involuntary behaviors produced by classical conditioning (Mergel, 1998). This points toward four major assumptions that underlie the behaviorist perspective concerning how environmental stimuli results in predictable human behaviors. These are
the concept of positive reinforcement; the influence of negative reinforcement; extinction or non-reinforcement and punishment (Mergel, 1998). Skinner proposed that, as scientists, psychologists should focus on observable behavior only
and that speculation about internal motivation and cognitive processes had no place in psychological investigation. However, Tolman, in 1932, formulated a cognitive approach to learning that proposed the possibility that
"learning could be latent" and that "unobservable stimulus" could have an effect on learning (Zentall, 2002, p. 328). This theory proposed that "cognitive maps" could exist that also had
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